No student will be left out in admissions process: State

The state might have a tough time ensuring admissions to students for junior colleges this year.

Reason — it’s not just the 46,000-odd students left from the first round of admissions, but also the 80,000 who will now benefit from the Allowed To Keep Terms (ATKT) scheme.

The official declaration of the ATKT scheme on Thursday has created a pool of about 1.26 lakh students who will need junior college seats.

The deputy director of school education, V.K. Wankhede, said: “Once all the merit lists are over, we will have a clear picture of the seats available. We will try to accommodate them in their desired colleges and streams.”

Principal Tukaram Shiware of Hinduja College, a member of the online admission committee, said: “Students applying for the ATKT facility will be allotted seats at the end of the online admissions.”

Even though there is no assurance of either group of students getting their preferred streams, the state education department said they will try their best.

“Reputed colleges might not have seats left to accommodate additional students. The state is however working on a solution,” said Shiware.

“Around 60 colleges have been asked to add extra divisions which should be able to fit in a great number,” he added.Of the 1.23-lakh students who applied online for junior colleges this year, only 76,443 accepted admissions at the end of the first round.

In the state, around 2.25 lakh students failed in two subjects in the February-March 2009 Class 10 exams — approximately 80,000 are from Mumbai and may avail of the ATKT scheme.

The second merit list will now be displayed on July 26 instead of the earlier date of Saturday as the state needs a day to tabulate the data.